The Good Food Institute (GFI) has released its comprehensive 2023 State of the Industry Report, which reviews the progress and evolution of the plant-based food sector across meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy alternatives.
The report noted that these sectors experienced both “headwinds and tailwinds” in 2023. It outlined that while some regions, especially those with emerging plant-based markets, saw growth in product distribution, U.S. sales declined. This was attributed to inflation and products not meeting expectations across taste, texture, and affordability.
However, six in ten U.S. households purchased plant-based foods in 2023.
On a global level, retail dollar sales of plant-based meat and seafood were estimated to reach $6.4 billion in 2023, with sales still remaining “small” compared to conventional meat sales.
Last year was a better year for plant-based milk. Globally, retail dollar sales of plant-based milk were estimated to reach $18.7 billion in 2023, with APAC leading, followed by North America. In the latter, plant-based milk reached $2.9 billion in sales, growing in dollar sales by one per cent.
The report highlighted that on the investment front, companies across the sector raised $907.7 million in 2023, bringing total private investments in the sector to $8.5 billion. It also noted that governments such as Canada, Denmark, and Germany increasingly committed significant public funding to research.
Government support of alternative protein startups and product development was also announced in Brazil, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and beyond, it shared.
On the research front, it shared that advances were made in ingredient development, from new animal-free fats and emulsifiers to novel aquatic, leguminous, and upcycled protein sources.
Likewise, improved scalability of traditional texturisation methods like extrusion was achieved, while fibre spinning and a patent-pending “process-controlled microstructure design” expanded available technologies for scalable plant-protein texturisation.
Read the full report here.